118 



ACCOUNT OF BRITISH SPONGES. 



and we cannot therefore think it is the same as 

 the Akyonium cotoneum of Pallas, which may 

 be the Linnean ci/domum, and is probably a 

 Spongia, 



With such insurmountable difficulty as that of 

 affixing the synonyma to this, and many other sub- 

 jects in this very intricate class of beings, I must 

 solicit the indulgence of the scientific, and leave 

 them to decide if the species here described, and 

 accompanied with a figure, is, or is not, the Alcy- 

 onium lyncurium of Linnaeus. 



Spongia ^verrucosa is globous, of a yellowish co- 

 lour, extremely verrucose, and fleshy, which be- 

 comes very hard by drying, and is of considerable 

 gravity even in that state ; the warts on the sur- 

 face, are approximating, irregular in shape, and 

 destitute of any pore ; the internal part or nu- 

 cleus, is composed of fasciculate fibres, connected 

 by the animal gluten ; these fill the whole inter- 

 nal cavity, and radiate to the centre, appearing 

 like threads of asbestus. 



The specimen from which the figure is taken, 

 was found on the coast of Devon, and is about an 

 inch and a quarter in its greatest diameter, for it 

 is not quite a regular orb, but very slightly de- 

 pressed ; at the base, the coat is a little broken 

 by separation from the body to which it was af- 

 fixed, displaying the internal asbestine spiculse. 



